How Ilona Maher Gave Jaxson Dart, Jameis Winston a True Reality Check During Giants Party

American rugby star Ilona Maher may be one of the funniest athletes in sports right now. You may agree after listening to the recent story she told about attending the Giants' Super Bowl party.

Maher spoke with her two sisters Olivia and Adrianna on their weekly podcast House of Maher (it's a great listen, check it out) this past week and told a hilarious story about how she humbled New York quarterback Jaxson Dart at the party, hosted by Cam Skattebo.

"There's this one guy, he's like blonde, he's an attractive guy, young looking. I'm like ‘Hey, what's up man?' He's like ‘Hey!' I'm like ‘So, you play football?' He's like ‘Yeah.' I'm like ‘That's awesome, man. What team you play for?' Mind you, this is a Giants, Skattebo's party," Maher started. "He's like ‘The Giants.' I was like ‘Sweet, man. That's awesome. What position are you?' He's like ‘I'm the quarterback?' I'm like ‘Ohhhh!' It was Jaxson Dart. No idea. He knew who I was."

The 2024 Olympic bronze medalist then went on to share how her friend Casey also humbled Giants backup quarterback Jameis Winston at the same party.

"Then Casey did it as well, she had a football in hand ... one of the football players goes to like take it from her. And, she's just a funny person, she goes ‘You know ball?' to Jameis Winston. He looked at her like [insert confused face] and walked away," Maher said.

"This is a party for the Giants and we're humbling these guys left and right."

Pro rugby player & Olympic bronze medalist Ilona Maher talks about how she & her friends HUMBLED QB Jaxson Dart and other players at Cam Skattebo's NY Giants party because she had NO idea who they were



"I'm like, you play football?… what team you play for?… what… pic.twitter.com/fY23CpkLjz

- Killa (@KillaKreww) April 15, 2026

Obviously Maher and her friend were just cracking jokes with the Giants players at the party, making for a hilarious story to tell now.

Ilona Maher detailed her awesome interaction with Fernando Mendoza

Maher recently also got to meet projected No. 1 pick in next week's NFL draft Fernando Mendoza. In the same podcast episode, Maher detailed the awesome interaction she had with the quarterback, who really seemed to admire her.

"I did get to meet Fernando Mendoza," Maher said. "Oh, a lovely guy. I guess I'd say my favorite athlete is Fernando Mendoza in that sort of area. So lovely, so excited to meet me."

For context as to why Maher said Mendoza is her favorite athlete: the Maher sisters were joking about giving answers to being asked who their favorite male athlete is, similarly to how male athletes were recently asked who their favorite female athlete of all time was during Women's History Month. The sisters noted how Serena Williams was the most used response, and most of the male athletes responded with athletes who are retired instead of naming someone who is currently playing. The Maher sisters gave equivalent answers for male athletes (saying names like Eli Manning), but after meeting Mendoza, the rugby star said she'd maybe pick him as her current favorite male athlete because of their positive interaction.

"Sometimes male athletes will meet me, and they know me, but they try to keep the air kind of cool and chill, like, ‘Yeah, cool, that's awesome,'" Maher continued. "But he was like, ‘Oh, really cool to meet you, I love what you're doing,' and talked to me. It was really nice to meet him. He was a great guy."

Maher and Mendoza have something in common-they both had features in Sports Illustrated recently. Mendoza was interviewed by SI's Greg Bishop for a daily cover issue that came out on Thursday ahead of next week's NFL draft. Maher was just photographed for the second year in a row for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit's 2026 edition. She's talked highly of her experiences shooting with the SI Swim team, and she even interviewed SI Swim editor MJ Day on a podcast episode.

More NFL from Sports Illustrated

• How Fernando Mendoza Went From No-Name Prospect to No. 1 in the Draft
• 2026 NFL Draft Guides: Needs, Fits and Each Team's Path to Success
• The Biggest Hit in the 2025 Draft Was a QB, But it Wasn't Cam Ward
• 2026 NFL Draft QB Rankings: Fernando Mendoza, Ty Simpson and Not Much Else

This article was originally published on www.si.com as How Ilona Maher Gave Jaxson Dart, Jameis Winston a True Reality Check During Giants Party.

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This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 8:19 AM.